| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3 4] > | Poll: How was your 2020? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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Mervyn Henderson (X) 
Spain
Local time: 12:46
Spanish to English
+ ...
It's the sense of humour, Chris.
And I'll tell you why. During our seemingly endless search for a couple of oysters and a drink (bought them in in the end, even more expensive than in the bar - get your head around that!), the Basques and I grabbed a table outside a (non-oyster) bar on Thursday.
This, in a decidedly unpleasant, quasi-Kafkian atmosphere in which people hang around outside bars monitoring drinking progress by studying the amount of liquids left in glasse... See more It's the sense of humour, Chris.
And I'll tell you why. During our seemingly endless search for a couple of oysters and a drink (bought them in in the end, even more expensive than in the bar - get your head around that!), the Basques and I grabbed a table outside a (non-oyster) bar on Thursday.
This, in a decidedly unpleasant, quasi-Kafkian atmosphere in which people hang around outside bars monitoring drinking progress by studying the amount of liquids left in glasses both inside and outside the bar, waiting for their chance to swoop when tables are vacated. We presently saw that groups of three and four were staring at our table for four with disdain. Then we got up to leave. Three people zipped across like they were on some kind of rapid-transit conveyor, asking if we were really going. But a battleaxe in a shell suit leading a rival pack with another three jumped in, and screeched the equivalent of "Oi! we was here well before you, so we was."
As we were getting up and the four of them were standing around, kind of guarding the seats, I slapped my forehead and said: "Do you know, I could do with another glass of wine. Shall we have another?" I gave a little laugh. Battleaxe stared through me. The Basques said, "No, no, he's only joking. We really are leaving."
And so we left. Me explaining the concept of a "battleaxe", and the Basques saying "For Christ's sake, not everything's a joke." ▲ Collapse
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 11:46
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Chris S wrote:
Tom, I’m curious, what makes you choose to live in Britain with its repressed emotions, arsonists, dodgy cuisine, useless government, etc?
Is it the weather?
Necessity. My plans and efforts to continue living in Italy for the rest of my life were thwarted when someone very important, who had a crucial role to play in these plans and efforts, suddenly died. As a result I had no meaningful way of making a living in Italy, but I did have one in the UK. With a heavy heart that is still heavy, I returned to the UK.
I also tried something similar in Ireland so that I could return to the land of my birth and start dealing normally with people but alas, at a key juncture I was pipped at the post in an interview to become Head of the School of Architecture at UCD (having been one on a shortlist of 3). So that's why I'm not living in Dublin.
London is a poor second to both of these places. I have to put up with it. It has its advantages of course.
[Edited at 2021-01-01 15:59 GMT]
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I’m sorry to hear that, Tom. I wasn’t meaning to pry; I was just curious. As freelance translators, can’t we live wherever we choose? (Well, up until today...)
I’m tied down by kids for the next six months and then I’ll be free as a bird. But I rather like this place despite the weather so I imagine I’ll stay. Especially now we’ve broken off the shackles and can return to the 1960s. I’d always wondered what they were really like, especially as nobody who was there can remember.
| | | | Mervyn Henderson (X)
Spain
Local time: 12:46
Spanish to English
+ ...
Pipped at the post for Head of the School of Architecture at UCD! Well, not many people can say that, Tom, so you must know your stuff. Two on a shortlist of three, to be exact, for a job badly needed in a city like Dublin.
Although I heard they'd stopped building so extensively there, so much so someone brought out a cover version called "I can see Clery's now the crane has gone".
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Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 11:46
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Mervyn Henderson wrote:
....Well, not many people can say that, Tom.....
Two, to be exact.
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 11:46
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Chris S wrote:
As freelance translators, can’t we live wherever we choose?
Maybe not, but we can TRANSLATE wherever we choose, assuming we have a laptop. I have done a lot of translating on trains and in my office at the university, in between giving tutorials. I have translated under the loggia of a 16th- century villa, in summer, outside Florence, and on a cool marble-topped kitchen table inside. I have translated in-flight although the fold-down tables are too narrow for a laptop, which made it very awkward.
New question for one of these silly topics: what is the strangest place in which you have translated?
[Edited at 2021-01-01 17:08 GMT]
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Tom in London wrote:
New question for one of these silly topics: what is the strangest place in which you have translated?
Ladies' toilets at Colombo airport.
| | | | Rachel Fell
United Kingdom
Local time: 11:46
French to English
+ ...
| Just a minute! | Jan 1, 2021 |
I have to defend all those British dishes so vilified on the previous page: they are all really nice if cooked properly! And yes, of course I love dishes from other countries too.
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Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 11:46
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Rachel Fell wrote:
I have to defend all those British dishes so vilified on the previous page: they are all really nice if cooked properly! And yes, of course I love dishes from other countries too.
I forgot Toad in the Hole, which I make quite well. Skill level required: almost zero. Not the world's finest cuisine, but comforting on a winter's night.
[Edited at 2021-01-02 11:41 GMT]
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Dan Lucas wrote:
For the fiscal year, revenue will probably be down 10% or so. Could have been better, could have been a lot worse.
Shall see 2021, not sure
| | | | | And for dessert ... | Jan 2, 2021 |
Tom in London wrote:
I forgot Toad in the Hole, which I make quite well. Skill level required: almost zero. Not the world's finest cuisine, but comforting on a winter's night.
...I've just baked some special brownies for you, Tom, in return for your valuable post on my "Cancu"-suggestion:
Enjoy!
| | | | Anne Maclennan
Local time: 12:46
Member (2010)
German to English
+ ...
2020 seems to have been not too bad. Will know later in 2021. Meanwhile I'm away to bake some potato bread - another good Irish dish!
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Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 11:46
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Anne Maclennan wrote:
2020 seems to have been not too bad. Will know later in 2021. Meanwhile I'm away to bake some potato bread - another good Irish dish!
My mother in Ireland used to put a big iron griddle over 4 gas rings and make (a) potato bread, also known as fadge (b) pancakes (c) soda bread.
[Edited at 2021-01-05 13:24 GMT]
| | | | | A big jump into the lion's den | Jan 5, 2021 |
2020 was a rollercoaster, from beginning to end.
The year started on a good note, with new life plans and lots of ideas. Then, COVID-19 happened and shattered every plan that I had imagined for myself. You see, 2020 was supposed to be the year of travels and house-hunting. Quite ironically, it quickly became the year of "house-escaping-as-much-as-possible" in order to keep my sanity. At the time, I was working as an in-house translator for a UK-based company, and it was becoming increasing... See more 2020 was a rollercoaster, from beginning to end.
The year started on a good note, with new life plans and lots of ideas. Then, COVID-19 happened and shattered every plan that I had imagined for myself. You see, 2020 was supposed to be the year of travels and house-hunting. Quite ironically, it quickly became the year of "house-escaping-as-much-as-possible" in order to keep my sanity. At the time, I was working as an in-house translator for a UK-based company, and it was becoming increasingly difficult for me to keep working remotely in my tiny London apartment (who can relate?). I thus decided to go back to where it all started: to my parents. There is indeed no place like home to spend some quality time around the ones you love. Then, somewhere around the summer, where cases started to drop all over Europe, London started a whole "Back-To-The-Office" campaign, and following the trend, my boss urged us to go back as soon as possible: we were all expected to be back in the office in September. And I couldn't believe my eyes/ears, because I knew things would eventually get bad again, and I would get stuck in the UK (again). I told my boss this: why can I not work from home when I am perfectly able to do so, with no impact on my work? He did not listen to my concerns, and "forced" me to rethink my career plan. After some serious reflexion, I took the (quite literally) life-changing decision to quit my job and start freelancing.
I am glad I did though. I know it won't always be easy, but I believe it will all be worth it in the end.
I am more than proud to join the freelance translators community.
I look forward to new job opportunities in 2021.
Happy New Year, everyone. May it be better than the one we leave behind.
Stay safe. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Mervyn Henderson (X)
Spain
Local time: 12:46
Spanish to English
+ ...
I know the ladies' toilets you mean. Obviously Covid has prevented me going there as often as I would have liked this year. However, the upside of travel restrictions is that they have also prevented Keira Knightley from pestering me to work with my PC perched on her bare bottom as she files her nails and goes through her lines for the next gig. She's so clingy, that girl.
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